Haircbtting cloth or apron



F. H- RICHMOND v HAIR CUTTINGCLOTH 0R APRON Oct. 17, 1950 Filed March1:, 19 47 INVENTOR; FRED'HOMERYRCH 0ND ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 17, 1950PATENT ,1;

I I I I V z ezas s Y Harriet-rewrite CLOTH AFRO-N V @595 H: 3291131 St,Louis, Mo V V eriali iiea Mar h i 1947, Serial No.-1

The present invention relates to certain .new and useful improvements inhair cutting cloths or aprons, and, Vmoreo particularly to. improve-.

ments upon my prion patent. numbered 2,123,436, dated Jilly 12, v1933.

These cloths. are used by barbersiior prevent? l s hair cl ppings and:dandruff: rom fallin uppnt eelothe of; their customers. The prin. ci alob ect of the.- pres nt invention is topmvide a generally rectangularshield, cloth or apron fo vp siti ning over the shoulders and a und theneck of the customer, for catchin si qii airsd qn ne i thesaic clothseina orm d w' a wsha ed o en extended downward throu h it u per end or sde. nd ada te to se raqe the ne k. o the; eas erli s h mar ins. 9;. th(shared openin bein hemmed over inserts of elastic cords or tapes thatare ;-stretche d or tensioned in the process of making the cloth, insish anne as t nq m l r qr o endma i'ei w cket wr kl e i he em r at e ev rq ti 'd he e heme wher b h parted oi t e 011 may b i l' ir ich d under iin he reel? of e cus r, gard, s s of the size 'or bulk of, the neck ,and

v ts eleeeablir seu e' ii esit b me ns oi a suitable fastening device.

fii e ii jbi t' he nv n i s Pr ide in a barbers cloth or apron of thekind re ferried" to, ajspecial form; of fastening device for eleasabl ysecuring theclothinpIace about ck of the. customer, without the.necessity h; the-e astic to w npl e he a e e e V ew; wes e i s uch otherobjects and advantages, as may ap-, from the; following. specification,attention 'ng," puncturing or injuring the hem oiis" directed to theaccompanying drawing as e se pin m a preferred. embodiment of invent on,and wherein:-

li'g igure 1 is a plan View of a barbers cloth amma ewrdens with his invntion- F u s i a similar P an, Vi w of he m. shqwine the we n r end ihe, vpe opening or par in th req read a orally at its margins androunded serni=circularly at. ach side fo em ra h neck of a, tom th ma one n brou t. ab u of. coursein the act of: lacin the loth u o hecustomer.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the cloth showing its, formation asdrawn up around the, neck of a customer, and releasably secured: to esii see b meanest he sneqiai orm. oi

mg device as contemplated andprovidedin this invention. Y 1 Figure 4 isasection on the line 4-4 of Figure 3, showing on a greatlyenlarged-scale,the 'cion struction and mode of operation ofthespecialform of fastening device. 7'

Figure 5 is a perspective view similar to that of Figure 3, showinghowever the'cloth asse cured to position by means of a commorr' pin; inlieu of the special fastenin'gsdeviceshdwn in Figure 3. I

In practising this invention; I provide-a flexible:

cloth of any suitable'kind of material, preferably at I; but within'thehemmed margins la of -the' V-shaped parting 6 there is enclosed:a-longth of elastic-tape 8 which is folded'mediallwupori itself to formthe lower crotch -8a,-of--- theV=-- shaped opening 6. :In the processormounting this tape 8 within the hems loathe tape-is stretched"substantiallyupward from the/lower crotch 8a, asi-t; is sewn and hemmedin place; and so thatw-hen the hemsarecompleted and released thecontractive pull of the tapes willcause the hems to-pucker and wrinkleas indi cated at. 9 at the lower portion of the V-shapedparting 6.- Abuttonhole lllis formed'medially through one of the hems-"Iaatoneside-ot'the parting 6, for a purpose later explainedf For use with thecloth as described a special form of fastening device ll is provided,the:

same comprisingapair of fingerpieces 1 2; t3; pivotally connected by apin l3cu .passedtrans-s versely through tabs l4 turneddown from theupperfinger piece I2-. These finger piecesare normally urgedresilientlytogether by a coil spring l5 seated over theupin. Isa and braced at itsends against the pieces [2, l3. A'button Iii-formed with a centralsocket I'B'a is anchored at 162; to the inner face of' the uppen "fingerpiece I2, and a complementalobtuse spur IT is similarly anchored at llbto the innersfac e of the other finger piece i3, in alignment with andadapted toenter the socket 115a of thefingerdrawn between the openedfinger piece l2, I3, within the button 16 and spur IT on opposite sidesof such hem, and as the finger .pieces are released and automaticallyclose together the spur i1 engages and forces the hem with the spur intothe socket [6a, thus firmly securing the cloth to its desired position.

The form of cloth or apron as here provided has no permanently attachedbuttons or fastenings to intrfere with laundering. The button holeIll-affords a handy place for securing the fastening device I! againstmisplacement when the latter is not in use. In use this fasteningelement need not necessarily be inserted in the button hole H], but maybe used independently of the button hole, for pinching the sides of theapron together at any desired point.

Any desired kind or form of elastic material may be employed in themaking of this hair cutting cloth or apron, such as elastic cord, tapeor strips of webbing, or any other stretchable material, and if desiredthe cloth may be made of double layers, with such elastic material sewnin between the layers at the margins of fthe V-shaped neck opening.

In use, the cloth is positioned upon the chest and shoulders of thecustomer, as indicated in Figure 2. The parted sides of the cloth arethen drawn up resiliently around and back of the neck and the overlappedsides are finally secured together by means of the fastening device ll,in manner already pointed out. If preferred,j a common .pin l8 may beemployed for securing the cloth in place, in lieu of the fasteningdevice II, as shown in Figure 5. From the construction as shown, it isobvious that this form of barbers cloth is adapted for snugly andyieldingly fitting around necks of varying size, including children andadults, and is well adapted for preventing hair clippings from workingdown between the cloth and the neck of the customer, and onto hisclothes.

The forming of the parting opening as of V-shape and the particularmanner in which the edges are tensioned provides several definiteadvantages. With the elastic element 8 extending on both side edges ofthe parting and shaped relative to the crotch of the opening and securedto the crotch, thus placing the medial zone of the elastic as anchoredto the point or crotch zone of the V-opening, such zone becomesstabilized and definitely shaped, enabling the remainder of the elasticto be properly tensioned during the formation of the covering for theelastic provided by the hem, with the elastic ends secured to the hemwhile .under tension. The definite shape of the crotch zone thusproduced is not disadvantageous since this underlies the chin of thecustomer when the cloth is applied. Hence, both sides of the lower zoneof the parting edges are of similar tensioned characteristics andprovide similar puckers and/or wrinkles on-both sides of such zones, thelatter zones having a length such as to include the front and theforward portion of the sides of the neck. The puckered zone will readilyconform to the neck, as will the untensioned portions, of the hem, asthe cloth is applied, there being a close fit about the neck exceptwithin the crotch zone, the latter exerting no pressure at the medialfront of the neck, thus avoiding discomfort to the customer at thisportion of the neck such, for instance, as to force swallowing actionsand the like. The remainder may then be closely fitting 4 The structureof the securing means shown in Fig. 4 is above set forth. It presents anumber of advantageous conditions. For instance, it can be used eitherwith or without the buttonhole II], the latter serving to actuallyposition the location of the means in service, and to carry the means toprevent loss when the cloth is not in service. However, as aboveexplained, the means can be used without the button-hole, this being dueto the fact that in closing the means upon the positioned rear portionsof the cloth the stud i! does not penetrate the material but simplymoves it into the flared opening of the button I6. Whether the materialthus inserted is of one or two plies, the stud serves to hold theinserted portion or portions in position by tending to clamp thematerial between it and the button and at the same time produce a pseudocurvature to the material inserted, such as will prevent its beingwithdrawn other than by opening the means. Since there. is noperforating oil the material, the cloth is not damaged by theapplication of themeans. Obviously, by removing the means from thecloth, the latter is freed from all projecting structure. Thebutton-hole when used provides no difficulty in this respect, the resultbeing that the hair cloth can be easily laundered without dangerofdamage. When the button-hole is used with the securing means it islocated external of the shank of the button and its walls do not enterbetween the stud and the flared wall of the button opening. 1 A

And while I have here shown and described a specific embodiment of theinvention, and specific structural features thereof, itis to beunderstood that the features as shown may be changed or modified asdesired, within the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In hair cutting cloth assemblages, wherein the neck-enclosing zone istensionable, an as semblage of such type characterized in that theneck-applied zone of the cloth includesa medial V-shaped parting havingits edges of double-ply formation and with the lower zone of each edgecarrying the tensioning means, said means comprising an elongatedelastic element mounted between the parting edge plies and extendinginto the opposite side edges of the parting, a medial portion of theelement being'folded into conformity with the crotch of the parting andbeing secured to the cloth at such crotch, said element having a lengthless than the peripheral length of the parting and being additionallysecured to and within the cloth plies beyond the element mid-zone whilethe unsecured zones of the element are under tension to thereby produceacloth having the tensioned zone of the plies and adjacent body normallypuckered and/or wrinkled to provide a zone shapeable about the forwardand side portions of the neckwith the untensioned edges of the partingforming the covering for the rear portion of the neck by clothoverlapping, and'meanscarried by the an: tensioned ply zones fortemporarily securing the cloth in its active service position about theneck of the customer.

2. An assemblage as in claim 1 characterized in that the medial portionof the element is folded upon itself within the crotch zone prior tobeing secured to the crotch, such securing serving to anchor the elementin the crotch zone in conformity with the pointed crotch zone of theparting to provide a definitely-shaped medial zone for positioning atthe front of the n ck and underlying the chin of the customer, wherebythe tensioned p rtions beyond the crotch, are conformable to the frontand forward side zones of the neck with the :untensioned zones of theparting conformable about the remainder of the sides and the rear of theneck.

3. An assemblage as in claim 1 characterized in that one of theuntensioned ply zones of the edges of the parting is formed with asingle button-hole usable to removably support the temporary securingmeans during both active and inactive service periods of the assemblage,removal of the securing means from the 'buttonhole and thereby freeingthe means from the apron rendering the cloth free for washing and withthe cloth completely flexible for washing purposes.

FRED I-I. RICHMOND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

